Betting big on U-truck platform that will be launched in October, Ashok Leyland (ALL) hopes to sell 90,000 units in this fiscal against 64,000 units in the previous year. Hoping to sell 80,000 units in the domestic market, including 1,000 LCVs, the commercial major eyes to grow by 40%.
U-truck platform will straddle the entire range of tractors, tippers and haulage trucks in the 16-49 tonne segment.
On the export front, with strong recovery in Sri Lanka, West Asia, Bangladesh coupled with its entry into Thailand, ALL expects to sell 9,000 units in the overseas markets this fiscal, up 50%, against 5,980 units last year, sources said.
The company will be launching at least 25 new products under the U-Truck platform, including 10 to 12 products before the current financial year. By 2012-13, the company is planning to have 50 new products under the new platform, market sources said. Powered by BS III and BS IV engines (and BS V in future) under its popular H series (SCR) and with the new Neptune (EGR) range with HP ranging from 160 to 380, the new products will meet the wider choice of customer?s application based on their requirements, the sources pointed out.
Its finance arm Hinduja Leyland Finance has financed over 1,700 vehicles with an outlay of Rs 250 crore, the sources maintained.
The truck major will ramp up its Pantnagar capacity to 3,000 units a month from December from the current level of 1,200-1,500 vehicles per month and the capacity would be further scaled up to 4,000 vehicles a month by March 2011, the sources said. ALL has bagged an order for 2,850 buses from the Institute for Road Transport (IRT), the nodal agency for procurement of vehicles of Tamil Nadu government.